354 
5 M 
14 
py 1 



Digest of Survey of 
Portland Public Schools 



./ -/,-/i,S./. ^ u.y^ 



=*^ 



FORXI'WORB. 



The Report of the Survey of the Public School 
System of School District No. 1, Multnomah 
County, Oregon, was submitted on November 1, 
1913, and published in the form of a book con- 
taining 317 pages. 

It is the product of six educators of promi- 
nence, three of whom reside in California. 

An insistent demand has been made for a digest 
of this survey, which while it contains many 
valuable criticisms and recommendations, is pon- 
derous, discursive and necessarily full of repe- 
tition. 

To satisfy this demand the "Oregon Civic 
Leasfue" through its Department of S^chools and 
Child Welfare, appointed a committee to present 
in a non-partisan form a digest of readable length, 
for wide circulation among the parents of our 
school children and the friends of education. 

No criticism is intended to be made of the 
framers of this survey, as tliey were unacquainted 
with local conditions and unable to spend more 
than a very limited time in actual investigation 
of the school rooms, teachers, school children, 
principals and other officers of the school district. 

This made it impossible for them to present 
more than certain definite impressions formed 
after but few visits to a limited number of the 
schools of this district. 

The impulse of this outside criticism by promi- 
nent educators hns certainly been towards prog- 
ress, and the results of their work as presented in 
Appendix A show some of the benefits already 
reaped by our schools. 

It would be impossible for any group of men 
while making this survey to escape some errors 
of fact. It is in no spirit of adverse criticism 
that these mistakes have been classified in Ap- 
pendix B. On the contrary, it is a rompliment to 
the painstaking care of the makers of the -sur- 
vey that these mistakes are not more numerous. 

The most important benefit of this survey to 
the community is that it has awakened great in- 
terest in public school affairs. 

It will be very valuable to the cause of educa- 
tion to have those who are intimately acquainted 
with school affairs discuss the strong and weak 
points of the recommendations condensed in these 
pages. 

The Oregon Civic I^eague extends cordial thanks 
to the school directors of District No. 1 for pub- 
lishing this digest. 

A. C. NEWIM.. Chairiran 
W. T. FLKTCHER 
A. H. WETHEY. .JR. 
EMMA WOLD 
MAIDA ROSSTTER 

R. FULTON RISELING. Secy. 



\a TRINTING COMPANY 



Personnel of the Survey 

Local Committee in Charge. 

Mr. Richard W. Montague, Chairman. 
Mrs. Millie R. Trumbull. 
Mr. L. A. Lewis. 
Mr. J. A. Madsen. 
Mr. L. J. Goldsmith. 

SURVEY EXPERTS. 

Director of the Survey. 

EUwood P. Cubberley, Professor of Education, Leland Stan- 
ford Jr. University, California. (General direction; Organization; 
Administration; Teaching Force; Costs.) 

Associates on the Survey — 

Fletcher B. Dresslar. Professor of Education, Peabody Col- 
lege for Teachers, Nashville, Tenn. Formerly Expert on School- 
house Architecture and Sanitation for the United States Bureau 
of Education. (Schoolhouse Construction; Sanitation.) 

Edward C. Elliott, Professor of Education, University of Wis- 
consin. (Attendance; Census; Reports.) 

J. H. Francis, Superintendent of Schools, Los Angeles, Cali- 
fornia. (Vocational and Special Education.) 

Frank E. Spaulding, Superintendent of Schools, Newton, 
Massachusetts. (Courses of Instruction.) 

Lewis M. Terman, Associate Professor of Education, Leland 
Stanford Jr. University. (Health Supervision; Physical Training.) 

Assistant for Statistical Work. 

William R. Tanner, Graduate Student, Leland Stanford Jr. 
University. 

,). OF D. 






V^.^ 



Part One 



^^ 



CHAPTER I 

The Legal Organization of the Portland School District. 

What is known as School District No. 1, of Multnomah County, 
Oregon, and commonly known as the Portland School District, is a 
creation not of the city but of the state under a constitutional man- 
date. 

Under this authority the Legislature has created a state school 
system which consists of a State Superintendent of Public Instruc- 
tion, a State Board of Education, a body of School Law, County 
School Superintendents, and District School Directors. 

The school districts are the educational units of the system and 
have been declared by law to be "bodies corporate, competent to 
transact all business coming under their jurisdiction." 

The boundaries of the school district are determined by a county 
boundary board. 

These boundaries may differ from those of a municipality of 
which it forms a part or it may even lie in two counties. 

In the case of Portland the school district boundaries early in 
1913 enclosed a much larger area than the city. 

The school districts of the state are divided into three classes. 
The first class, to which Portland belongs, comprises all school dis- 
tricts in the state having 1,000 or more children of school census 
age (4 to 20 years). Such districts are allowed to elect five school 
directors, instead of the three provided for other districts; may ap- 
point a clerk outside of their own membership; may employ a super- 
intendent of schools; may prescribe their own courses of study; may 
examine their own teachers; may provide evening schools, and may 
create an indebtedness. 

In 1911 all school districts having 10,000 or more school chil- 
dren were permitted to create a teachers' retirement fund, and in 
1913 all school districts having 20,000 or more school children were 
permitted to establish and maintain many types of special schools 
and to adopt their own text-books. 

This sj'Stem of state control has its disadvantages as well as 
advantages. Should the educational needs of Portland advance more 
rapidly than those of the state, it will be compelled to secure the per- 
mission of the state legislature before it can make mucii needed im- 
provements. 

The retention, in a city of 2.50,000 inhabitant*, of the old, out- 
grown system of holding an annual meeting of taxjiaycrs of the school 



district to levy the school tax and to make appropriations for the 
schools is an illustration of the case. 

State oversight also permits interested parties to secure legisla- 
tion of a kind which suits them, over the heads of the elected repre- 
sentatives of the school district. An illustration on the good side 
would be laws compelling the board to establish vacation schools, to 
introduce instruction in domestic science, to provide proper play- 
ground facilities, or to establish proper sanitary conditions and health 
supervision. 

An illustration on the other side is the life-tenure-of-teachers 
bill of 1913. 

Thus, although the Portland School District has a distinct legal 
organization, it is yet a city system and it should be provided with a 
new charter fitted to its requirements. 



CHAPTER II 

The Administrative Organization of the Portland School District. 

The state has provided for the election, by the property holders 
of the school district, of a Board of five School Directors. One mem- 
ber is elected each year, for a five-year term, and on a day set by 
law for the annual school meeting of the district. 

The Board of School Directors not only meets as a body, but 
it is also subdivided into eight committees. The administration of 
the schools is further organized under two main departments, prac- 
tically independent of each other — one for the business work, under 
the School Clerk, and one for the educational work, under the Su- 
perintendent of Schools. 

The business department seemed well organized and quite effi- 
ciently managed, and requires no further detailed description. 

The organization of the educational department is much the same 
as that found in many other cities. The Superintendent of Schools 
is aided by two Assistant Superintendents, one for general super- 
vision and one for special and vocational education. These in turn 
have under them special supervisors and the principals of schools; 
and finally there are the teachers. 

Unlike the business department, where a proper form of organi- 
zation is well established, in the educational department the form of 
organization is less important than the spirit which pervades the or- 
ganization. Personalit}^ insight and breadth of view count for much 
more here than in the business department. The work is far less 
mechanical and less of a routine nature, is much more difficult to 
organize by means of rules and regulations, and depends much more 
on the quality of the leadership at the top, and the freedom given 
the leader or leaders to work things out in their own way, than upon 
any scheme of organization which can be devised. 



It is in this department that boards of school directors too fre- 
quently make the mistake of trying to over-organize, and of trying 
to oversee its affairs too minutely. A living and growing school sys- 
tem, insofar as it relates to the educational organization, cannot be 
a product of organization and routine. 

By means of frequent board meetings and committee meetings, 
the Board of School Directors of the Portland School District strives 
to oversee every detail of the work. Questions that should be re- 
ferred directly to heads of departments occupy their time, and the 
heads of departments are subordinated into positions of but little 
more responsibility or authority than a clerk. 

The Superintendent of Schools should be made the General Man- 
ager of the entire school system. He should be elected for three or 
four-year terms, so as to give him independence in action, and should 
be paid a salary commensurate with his responsibilities. 

The Clerk, as head of the business department, should be in close 
touch with the Superintendent and somewhat subordinate to him. 

The position of Superintendent of Properties should be evolved 
into one of much importance and should be given rather large in- 
dependent powers and duties. Instead of being subordinate to the 
School Clerk, it should be subordinate to the Superintendent of 
Schools. (Appendix B.) 

The principles of good corporation organization need to be ap- 
plied to educational affairs, and Boards of School Directors need to 
assume more the position of a board of directors for a large corpora- 
tion, giving to their executive officers the authority which corpora- 
tion directors give to their presidents and superintendents. The 
proper functions of the board of directors are to supply funds, to 
supervise expenditure, and to determine what additions to the plant 
or extensions of the business are to be undertaken. So long as the 
business prospers the board should leave the details of employment 
and management lo the president and heads of departments; when 
the business ceases to prosper, they should either change their busi- 
ness methods or change their executive heads. 

The school corporation of the Portland School District does a 
three-million-dollar business each year. Its business management 
seems to be along good corporate lines, but its professional manage- 
ment does not. There is too little authority given to its chief execu- 
tive officer and those who should be his chiefs of staff, and too much 
unintentional interference with these officers in the exercise of their 
proper functions. (See Appendix B.) 



CHAPTER III 

The System of Supervision. 

The system seems to be suffering from too many rules and too 
little personal initiative so that the supervisors and principals as a 
class, although apparently well selected and of good material, appear 
dormant rather than active, as relying largely upon their past expe- 
rience and as doing but little reading and studying. 

A good supervisory organization always places a positive pre- 
mium on the development of those personal and professional qualities 
which give tone and character to a school. Tt encourages a judicious 
use of personal liberty in action. It places a premium on personal 
efficiency. 

In the Portland system, principals and teachers are bound by a 
rigid set of rules and regulations which are enforced through petty 
fines. 

According to the rules, every teacher and janitor must make a 
formal written application to the Board of School Directors each 
year, as a prerequisite to the retention of their positions. (Appendix 
B.) 

The Board selects all teachers and designates their employment 
by schools. 

Principals are required to report directly to the Board on many 
details of conduct and upon the efficiency of their teaching force. 

The work in all the schools is made uniform without regard lo 
differences in educational needs, and adheres strictly to rule. Such 
a plan enables the poorest and least progressive teachers or schools 
or principals to set the pace for the entire system; makes no allow- 
ances for differences in aptitude and needs, and is educationally in- 
defensible. 

To improve the system of supervision fourteen recommendations 
are inade: 

1. The powers and responsibilities of the Superintendent of 
Schools should be largely increased. He should be given a longer 
term of office and the right to select his immediate subordinates, 
subject to the approval of the Board. 

2. The Superintendent should have full recommending author- 
ity, after such consultation with his subordinates as seems to him 
best, in the matter of the selection, promotion and dismissal of 
teachers, the outlining of the course of study, and the selection of 
text-books and supplementary books for schools. (Appendix B.) 

3. The Superintendent should be freed from as much clerical 
and detail work as is possible, and should be provided with an auto- 
mobile to enable him to visit the schools of the city. 



4. He should have an Assistant to the Superintendent to take 
care of the office work. 

5. He should organize his elementary school principals and 
Assistant Superintendents into an educational club, and the three 
high school principals and the principal of the trade school into 
another club. 

6-7. The supervisory work should be distributed downward much 
more than is now the case, and should be changed from mere in- 
spection to an attitude of helpful educational leadership. 

8. A wise and capable woman should be added to the present 
force of Assistant Superintendents. 

9. Principals of both elementary and high schools should be 
accorded more importance and should be expected to study the ed- 
ucational side of their work more than they do. 

10. The requirement that principals teach some particular class 
one hour a day should be changed to the requirement that he give 
instruction somewhere in the school four or five hours a week. 

11. Instead of the present teachers' meetings usually held at a 
noon recess, there should be real teachers' meetings, with general 
school meetings once a month and grade meetings oftener. The 
Superintendent of Schools or his assistants should attend such meet- 
ings as often as possible. 

12. To aid the Superintendent of Schools an additional assistant 
should be provided who should also act as a critical educational ex- 
pert for the system. 

13. The present system of fines ought to be abolished, and the 
judgment and common sense of principals be allowed to rule in their 
stead. 

14. The rules and regulations of the Board of School Directors 
should be thoroughly revised, with a view to bringing them into 
harmony with these recommendations. 

CHAPTER iV 

THE SELECTION AND TENURE OF TEACHERS. 
The Selection of Teachers. 

Counting deaths, resignations and removals, something over a 
hundred new teachers are needed by the Portland School District 
at present each year. 

The present force is made up of 33;^;^ products of the Portland 
schools alone, 11§^ not graduates of any school, and the remaining 
55h^ from high schools, normal schools or colleges elsewhere in Ore- 
gon and throughout the United States and also in foreign countries. 

The policy which has been followed of drawing into the school 
system numbers of good teachers from the outside is one worthy of 



much commendation, and one which ought to be continued in the 
future. The Superintendent should be given the power to hunt up 
good teachers and invite them to enter the school system without 
waiting for a formal application. 

To insure the selection of the best teachers and to aid in main- 
taining the efficiency of the teaching staff, the Board should act only 
upon recommendation of the Superintendent of Schools. (Appendix 
B.) 

All matters relating to instruction should be referred to the Su- 
perintendent and his assistants, and the recommendation of teachers 
for appointment should come solely from him. 

Tenure of Teachers. 

A law passed by the last Oregon legislature and applying solely 
to the Portland School District provides that teachers, after two 
years of service, cannot be dismissed except after formal trial before 
the Board, and with formal written charges served, notices of trial 
and attorneys present. It is an example of vicious special legisla- 
tion under the guise of a general law. It means practically a life 
job for teachers, after two years, no matter how incompetent they 
may be. Both Baltimore and San Francisco have a law similar and 
this has been the result in both places. It is urged that this law be 
repealed; but that instead of returning to the old system, a middle 
course be taken. 

Every new teacher should pass through a probationary period 
of two or three years, subject to annual re-election upon the recom- 
mendation of the Superintendent of Schools. After this time the 
teacher should either (1) be re-elected for a period of years, say four 
or five; or (2) be placed on indefinite contract. Once a teacher is 
dropped from the system, after careful consideration, he or she ought 
not to be reinstated. 

The Board ought to plan to enlarge the present pension system 
so as to be able to retire honorably those who have become too old 
and have fallen too far behind to longer render efficient service. (Ap- 
pendix B.) 

CHAPTER V 

The Salaries of Teachers. 

The teachers and principals of Portland are paid according to a 
regular salary schedule based in large part on the nature of the work, 
the size of the school and the number of years of service. 

For some of the teachers and for some of the principals, both 
in the elementary schools and in the high schools, the amounts paid 
are much too high for the quality of service at present rendered. In 
other cases it is just the reverse. Averaged up, the salaries in the 
elementary schools are not too high; in the high schools they are 
too low, especially for the higher positions, and these schools are 



continually losing some of their most promising and most useful 
teachers, because they have readied the Portland maximum salary 
and cannot see a living on it. 

There should be devised a graduated scale of salaries paid, de- 
pending on the amount of improvement shown by a teacher and his 
or her increased efficiency' because of study or travel, thus: 

(a) For attendance at a summer session of a university or 
teachers' college, and doing approved regular work, $25.00 a year ad- 
ditional up to a maximum of four summers. 

Cb) For a year of study, on leave of absence, at a university or 
teachers' college, doing approved regular work, $30.00 a year addi- 
tional in salary. 

(c) For a year of study or travel in Europe, $100.00 additional. 

(d) For faithful and intelligent service and for professional 
growth, additional increase of $50.00 a year may be recommended 
for any teacher, by the Superintendent, on the prior recommendation 
of the principal of the school and the concurrence of a majority of 
the Assistant Superintendents. 

Three grades of teaching positions should be provided for the 
regular high schools, to be known as Assistants, Instructors and 
Heads of Departments, and to have the following salary ranges: 

(a) Assistant to begin at $900.00 and be advanced automatically 
to $1,200.00, at which all salary increases would stop, unless promoted 
to the rank of Instructor. 

(b) Instructor — May be filled by original appointment or by 
promotion. To begin at $1,200.00 and advance automatically to 
$1,500.00. To retain a desirable teacher, the Superintendent, on rec- 
ommendation of the principal of the high school concerned, may 
recommend a further increase to $1,600.00. 

(c) Heads of Departments — May be filled by original appoint- 
ment, or by promotion. To begin at $1,500.00 and to advance auto- 
matically to $1,800.00, with further increase as in the case of In- 
structors above, to $2,000.00. 

(d) For a year of graduate study in their special field of work, 
in an approved .\merican or European university, all Instructors and 
Heads of Departments to be granted $100 00 yearly increase, in addi- 
tion to the maximum salary limits reached by automatic increases. 

For principals, the present graded salaries in the elementary 
schools give splendid opportunity for adjustment according to their 
worth. If any principal will take a leave of absence for a year and 
spend it in study in a school of education in any of our better Ameri- 
can universities, an additional $100.00 a year, above the present max- 
imum, should be added to his or her salary. 

If some such plan for salary payments were inaugurated and 
carried out, it would be of great service in offering incentives to the 
ambitious and capable to enter the employ of the district, and to 
remain and advance in the ranks. 



Part Two 

CHAPTERS VI, VII and VIII 

General Character of the City. 

We find that Portland is a rapidly growing western city of the 
best class. It is also one destined to grow rapidly in the future in 
both area and population, and to occupy an important place in the 
social, political, commercial and agricultural life of the northwestern 
part of the United States. In the State of Oregon it will, in all 
probability, continue for all time to be not only the metropolis, but 
the commanding influence as well. 

1. In population the city is, as yet, essentially an American city, 
with but a small foreign-born population, and this drawn largely 
from nations of Teutonic stock. 

The number of Orientals of school age is small, and the number 
of negroes is almost negligible. 

The character of Portland's population is shown by the figure 
inserted here. 



MATIVE-BOR 



F 



H A T 1 V ■& 



PARENTS. 



50.3 





K A T I V E- \^ 




BORN, BUT \ 




ONE, ORBOTH, \ 


N, 






PARENTS \ 




FOBEIGM-BOHN. \ 




24.6 ^ 




Wo K B 1 G W-l^^^ans -tnn 




\bo KW /^^^^ii:£^ 4 J i 














^^1 A v^^Vv'"''*'^*- ^y 












' ^ ^\ \ ywx^ 




^.aXj V ^^^ 




"""^^^Vii *** .^^^ 




^M'^J^^ 



The Elements of Portland's Population. 
10 



2. The city has a large surplus of men, particularly of the pro- 
ductive and creative years of early manhood, a small number of mar- 
ried couples and a very small percentage of children of school age. 
This means that the city has been enabled to provide educational 
advantages for its children much better than the average city can. 



United States 



Portland 



Und4r S 

9.9 i,m 

5 tol 14 

17.4 iowmmmz. 



30.1 ^ 



^//m//m//////m/ff/A 



35, Zi'- 



mmm&y/'/////////////M///////A 



15 to 24 
25 to 44 
45 tq 



6.8 i» 

13.0 io 
20.2 fS 



15. B ^1 



y/////zf/////m/A 



G5 ard over 
4,0 ^ ^m 3.2 ^ 



41.1^ 



64 



16.7 ^ 



'.Age Distribution of the Yopulatlow 



3. The city itself is essentially a residence and a commercial city. 
While there is some manufacturing, the large city interests are home 
and business interests — retailing, wholesaling, the transshipment of 
freight and supplying both the needs and the outlet for the rich 
agricultural and timber region surrounding the city for some distance 
in all directions. It is these elements which should color its ed- 
ucational system. 

4. The city, too, is one of the wealthiest large cities in the United 
States, and it is conducted on a very low rate of taxation and a very 
low per capita expendit'-fe. In almost every item of city expendi- 
ture the rank of Portlana is low. 



11 



Rank of Portland in Items of City Expenditure Compared With 

Average of Thirty-seven Cities of Population Between 

100,000 and 350,000. 



Items. 



Per capita cost for 



Rank of 
Portland 



Portland. Aver, of j in amt. 
37 cities, j spent. 



1. General expenses of the city 

government 

2. Police department 

3. Fire department 

4. Inspection service 

5. Health conservation 

6. Street cleaning and sanitation 

7. Care and lighting of streets and 

bridges 

8. Charities, hospitals and correc- 

tions 

9. Education 

10. Libraries, art galleries and mu- 

seums 

1 1. Parks, playgrounds 

12. Damage settlements, and mis- 

cellaneous expenses 

Total per capita cost 

13. Interest paid on debt 

Total per capita rate 



$ 0.84 


$ 1.30 


1.25 


1.54 


1.69 


1.64 


.13 


.19 


.10 


.29 


.86 


1.10 



1.25 

.02 
4.29 

.15 
.37 

.16 

$11.11 

2.89 

$14.00 



1.70 

.74 
4.23 

.22 
.44 

.14 

$13.39 

2.54 

$15.93 



30th 

2Gth 

20th 

22d 

35th 

25th 

27th 

36th 
19th 

27th 
19th 

9th 
30th 
12th 
25th 



In such a city, composed of an excellent class of people, growing 
rapidly, rich and with a great future before it, the school system 
provided should be one of the best in the United States. It should 
also be one which, in addition to providing the general fundamentals 
of knowledge and the ordinary types of instruction, provides also in 
a broad and generous way for its citizens, public life and commercial 
needs of tomorrow. 

This involves the provision of elementary and secondary educa- 
tional opportunities, of course, and something more 



12 




How Portland Spends Its Dollar 

The Character of the Present System of Elementary and Secondary 

Education — Summary of the Chief Characteristics of the 

Present System of Elementary and Secondary Education. 

1. A rigidly prescribed, mechanical system of instruction, or- 
ganization and administration, poorly adapted both to the needs of 
the children and youth to be educated, and of the community to be 
provided with efficiently trained service, is the most universally evi- 
dent fact of the Portland schools. 

2. No one is wholly or primarily responsible for the system 
that dominates and mechanizes the thoughts and efforts of all con- 
nected with it — School Board, Superintendent, Assistant Superin- 
tendents, principals, teachers and pupils. 

.3. The mechanical system manifests itself in the course of study: 
a. The elementary course of study is dej.d, vivisected math- 
ematically into fifty-four separate prescriptions, most 
of which are composed of a given number of pages from 
certain text-books. 



i:i 



b. Regardless of age or need pupils are fitted to this dead 

curriculum, — there is no adaptation of the curriculum to 
the pupil. As a consequence, there are children of each 
year of age, from eleven to fifteen, inclusive, in every 
one of the nine elementary grades. 

c. There is abundant evidence that almost no thought was 

ever devoted to the working out and formulation of 
the elementary course of study. 

d. In content the elementary course of study presents the 

following characteristics: 

(1) The prescriptions of subject matter are absolutely 

and mechanically uniform for all. 

(2) The prescribed work is overwhelmingly abstract 

and bookish. 

(3) An excessive amount of time is given to abstract 

arithmetic and technical grammar. 

(4) Composition, both oral and written, receives inade- 

quate attention. 

(5) The study of history is deferred to a point that 

one-third of the pupils never -reach. 

(6) The course in nature study is quite inadequate. 

4. The mechanical system manifests itself in the scheme of 
promotional examinations: 

a. The scheme is mechanical. 

b. The anticipations of examinations dominate and distort 

the work of teachers and pupils. 

c. The examinations are wasteful of time and effort. 

d. The course of study, examinations, promotions, make up 

the pupil's educational life. 

5. The mechanical system manifests itself in the spirit and 
method of instruction in the class rooms: 

a. In the lowest grades, where the system bears less heavily, 

the work is generally good, much of it very good, some 
of it excellent. 

b. Work in the grammar grades is characterized by routine, 

lack of method, absence of evidence of genuine interest. 

c. In the grammar grades, reading is perfunctory; composi- 

tion, very poor; penmanship, careless; geography, ab- 
stract and bookish; history, dry and dull: arithmetic 
and technical grammar taught with considerable skill, 
but greatly over-emphasized, and the instruction not 
adapted to human needs. 

6. The influence of the mechanical system is manifested in the 
attitude of principals, teachers and pupils in the grammar grades: 

a. It relieves teachers of educational responsibility. 

14 



b. It encourages passive, routine, clerical work on the part 

of both teachers and pupils. 

c. Its effect on the principals is deadening; it neither requires 

nor encourages, it sca-Cely even permits, the assump- 
tion of any real educational responsibility by them. 

7. The absence of the mechanizing effects of the system is man- 
ifested in the activity, originality, independence, interest and enthu- 
siasm which characterizes the work of the primary grades. 

8. There is a dearth of suitable and even necessary educational 
material throughout the elementary grades. 

9. Classes in the elementary schools are of commendable size. 

10. The discipline of the elementary schools is excellent. 

11. Provisions for defectives are wholly inadequate. 

12. Provisions for secondary education are found in three high 
schools and in the School of Trades. 

13. In the last five years there has been a rapid growth of sec- 
ondary pupils, out of all proportion to the increase in total school 
enrollment. 

14. There are some excellent and some grossly inefficient teach- 
ers in the high schools, some of the representatives of inefficiency 
drawing larger salaries than the representatives of excellence. 

15. High school principals and teachers are engaged in teaching 
subjects rather than in educating the youth of the city. The teachers 
in the high schools are required to teach altogether too many periods 
per week. 

CHAPTER IX 

Summary of Recommendations for an Educational Program Adapted 

to Local Needs. 

1. In simplest terms Portland's educational problem is this: 
What shall be done for the forty-three thousand children and youth 
of the city that their value to themselves and to the community may 
be increased to the largest possible extent? 

2. Always the first and most important step in the solution of 
this problem is an appreciative understanding of the capacities, in- 
terests, possibilities, of each one of these forty-three thousand 
individuals. 

3. Such an understanding can be gained by no one, by no small 
number of persons; this is the great responsibility of the nine hun- 
dred teachers, principals, supervisors and superintendents. 

4. An adequate educational program for the community must 
be based on the individual needs of the boys and girls to be edu- 
cated, and the community needs for service. 

5. Such a program does not call for individual instruction, to 
any considerable extent; it does call for the grouping of pupils into 
schools and classes in accordance with similarity of needs. 

15 



(J. Seven factors must be considered in determining adequate 
grouping of pupils for instruction: 

a. Maturity, most readily but only roughly indicated by age. 

b. Knowledge, and ability to learn and to do. 

c. Probable time to be devoted to schooling. 

d. Natural capacity and interest. 

e. Command of the English language. 

f. Marked defects, abnormalities and subnormalities, physical 

and mental. 

g. Sex. 

7. The significance of age: 

a. Children under six are educable, and suitable provision 

should be made for them. 

b. Children of a greater age-range than three or four years 

cannot be advantageously instructed in classes together; 
ten per cent of the pupils in the elementary grades in 
Portland need reclassification on account of age alone. 

c. "Over-age" is the resultant of one or more of a large 

number of diverse causes. All over-age pupils should 
be studied, and suitable treatment applied. It is still 
more important to anticipate and prevent the develop- 
ment of over-age pupils. 

8. Knowledge and ability respecting conventional school sub- 
jects is a most useful criterion for determining appropriate classifi- 
cation and instruction, but it is not the only one. 

9. As all public instruction should be designed to fit the recip- 
ient of it for largest usefulness, the time available for such instruction 
must be an important factor in determining what that instruction 
shall be. 

10. Instruction is effective only as it is adapted to the capacity 
and interest of the recipient. 

11. Ignorance of the English language is a handicap that calls 
for separate classification and special instruction. 

12. Markedly abnormal and subnormal children should be seg- 
regated, both in their own interest and in the interest of normal 
children. 

13. Separate classification according to sex is involved indirectly 
in carrying on instruction in preparation for fields of service pe- 
culiarly appropriate to the one sex or the other. 

14. The school population falls into four large, fairly distinct 
groups, best represented under the names of the types of education 
best suited to the respective group needs: 

a. The kindergarten group. 

b. The elementary group. 

c. The intermediate group. 

d. The secondary group. 

16 



15. Instruction for each group must be adapted to the needs 
of the children or youth of that group: 

a. The kindergarten group requires the best form of kinder- 

garten instruction, 

b. The elementary group needs instruction in: 

1. The language arts: Reading, writing, spelling, and 

composition. 

2. Arithmetic. 

3. Geography. 

4. History of the United States. 

5. Hygiene, physical training, and physiology. 

6. Drawing, and elementary manual trainmg. 

7. Nature study. 

8. Vocal music. 

c. The intermediate group requires differentiated courses of 

instruction: 

1. Literary. 

2. Pre-vocational. 

d. The secondary group requires still further differenti- 

ated courses: 

1. Preparatory. 

2. Vocational. 

16. Courses of study must change constantly to meet the ever- 
changing needs of pupils, and to fit for the ever-varying service 
that society demands. 

17. Promotion must be based not on what a pupil has learned, 
but on what he needs to learn. 

18. The successful execution of this program demands the as- 
sumption of large educational responsibility by teachers and princi- 
pals; it calls for appreciative study, the exercise of keen msight and 
sound judgment, and the unfailing co-operation, under wise leader- 
ship, of all. 

CHAPTER X 

Offering in Vocational Studies. 

Portland's comprehension of elementary education seems much 
too limited. Her schools are making life too formal, too serious, 
too uninteresting and too unnatural for her children. 

The principal business of the child in the first few grades is to 
play and to grow — to read, write, spell and cipher are incidental in 
importance. 

The six-year age for attending schools is traditional, but under 
present conditions, our cities must become partially responsible for 
children earlier than six years of age, in kindergartens rather than 
the grade schools. 

I saw no play in the Portland school rooms, with windows raised 
and children engaged in physical games. 

17 



Many of the schools are without playgrounds wortny of the name. 
Play must become an integral part of the problem of child develop- 
ment. 

In the high schools, uniformity is carried to extremes. 

The first greatest need in the system is the placing of greater 
responsibility upon the principal, supporting him in rational changes 
he may undertake, and holding him for results. 

Necessary changes in vocational work are: 

1. Primary manual arts should be introduced into first four 
grades, and advanced work made much less formal. 

2. The elementary course in sewing should include more gar- 
ment making and a study of textiles and textile designs. 

3. Cooking should begin in the sixth grade. A year of domestic 
chemistry and a year of household mathematics should be included 
in the high school course. 

4. Every elementary school should have a room fitted for the 
teaching of music, and a teacher especially prepared for the work. 

5. The School Board should employ an efficient supervisor of 
school gardens, with not less than three assistants. 

6. Intermediate, pre-vocational schools should be organized, of- 
fering courses in commercial and industrial work, with half-day 
courses for part time pupils. 

7. The mechanical drawing now offered should be done in the 
grammar grades and the free-hand drawing in those grades should, 
for the girls, lead into costume designing and home decorating. These 
two courses should be much more developed than they are in the high 
schools. 

8. A vocational-guidance director should be appointed. 

9. The commercial courses in the high schools need to be 
reorganized. Classes should be organized for youngs people employed 
in business. 

10. There should be a first-class agricultural high school. 

11. A technical high school should be established, retaining the 
trade courses of the present School of Trades. 

(See Appendix B.) 

CHAPTER XI 

NEEDED REORGANIZATION AND EXPANSION OF THE 
SCHOOL SYSTEM. 

Summary of Recommendations. 
1. That the school system be reorganized, to secure greater 
educational efficiency, into the following units: 

a. Kindergarten, one year. 

b. Elementary schools, six years. 

18 



c. Intermediate schools, three years. 

d. High schools, five years (three or four years now; five 

ultimately). 

This can be made a truly American system, fitted to meet the 
social, professional, industrial and commercial needs of American 
boys and girls. 

2. That ungraded rooms should be established in connection 
with each elementary school of any size, to afford the necessary pro- 
vision for the exceptional children in the school. 

3. Four or five special or truant schools for boys, irregular in 
their studies, habits and deportment, should be established, graduat- 
ing their boys into a central manual school, from which they should 
be admitted to one of the high schools. 

4. The vacation school system should be gradually enlarged and 
extended, and changed somewhat in type. The playgrounds should 
be closely connected with such school work. 

5. The night-school work should be enlarged, enriched and ma- 
terially extended in scope, and its purpose in part changed. 

6. The school day should be extended, and Saturday forenoon 
included for vocational work in grammar schools, carrying the sev- 
enth and eighth grades, and in the intermediate schools and in the 
high schools. 

7. Two special art schools, one for intermediate and one for 
high-school pupils, should be established. 

8. There should be established at least two, and gradually a 
number more, of neighborhood schools, to meet the peculiar needs 
of certain centers within the city. 

9. A school for the instruction of janitors should be added, 
standards for the work established, and a wage scale based on effi- 
ciency instituted. 

CHAPTER XII 

The Building and Sites Problem. 

This problem is affected by several factors: 

First — The increase in the size and population of the city is very 
rapid. The rate at present is six children per day, which is equiva- 
lent to a new class room every six and two-thirds days, a new build- 
ing as large as the Failing every four months, three such buildings 
each year. 

Second — A city ordinance requiring fi'-e-proof construction has 
added 55^ to the cost of buildings. 

Third — The city is having a marked shifting of population. In- 
dustry and commerce are driving the residence sections out from all 
of the lower river levels north of Hawthorne bridge. As a result, 
eight or ten of the present large school buildings will in part or 

19 



entirely be abandoned and new class rooms must be provided else- 
where for these children. 

The Board is to be commended for the way the problem has 
been met thus far. All of the children of Portland are provided with 
school facilities. The newer buildings are planned for future needs. 
Recently there has been established a building department and a 
standard type of building construction. Larger sites are being pur- 
chased. The older sites, however, for the most part are entirely 
too small, some of them providing but 27 or 30 square feet of play 
space for each pupil. The standard fixed by the London School 
Board is 100 square feet. The Portland Board should provide larger 
grounds. More room for the children is one of the best investments 
a city can make. No boy who is denied opportunity for vigorous 
play with his fellows can reach his highest possible development, 
either physically, morally, socially, or democratically. School build- 
ings and playgrounds are the logical places for recreation centers, 
and the educational department of a city should administer and su- 
pervise this part of a city's duties. 

Of the present high schools, Jefferson seems to be well located 
and has sufficient grounds; Washington's site is too small and will 
soon be found to be poorly located; Lincoln's site is also too small, 
but it is well located for group work. Washington should have a 
new site secured out near Mt. Tabor. The Lincoln site should be 
increased to four blocks and three buildings added, one for a tech- 
nical school, including the present trade school, one for a commer- 
cial school, and one for a gymnasium. 

A new high school will soon have to be provided for the south- 
east section. 

A proper high school site should consist of eight or ten acres. 

An agricultural school should be established somewhere on the 
East Side on a site of at least fifty acres. 

Types of Buildings. 

The type of school building is in process of constant change. 
Just now there is being tried out in various cities the open air, 
the one-story structure, the one-story unit with concrete arcade and 
separate heating plant, and the intermediate building. So far as our 
present knowledge goes, however, the new Failing is the best type 
of elementary, and the new Lincoln the best type of high school 
building evolved in Portland. Until something better is produced, it 
would be well to follow these in future construction. 

Safety. 
The Failing and Lincoln are also somewhat safer than a wooden 
or a wood and brick construction. However, the arrangements of 
rooms, halls and exits of the latter and the excellent fire drills 
make them almost as safe as the fire-proof. In centers where the 
population is shifting it would seem sufficient to provide semi- 
fireproof buildings. 

20 



Cost. 

The Failing cost about $7,000 a class room, the recently erected 
wooden buildings about $4,500. The Failing cost 55^ more, but 
will last at least twice as long and will cost less for insurance and 
repairs. Similarly the Lincoln cost two-thirds more than the Jeffer- 
son, but will last two or three times as long and will cost much less 
for upkeep. 

Tax or Bonds. 

Considering the probable continued growth of Portland, its large 
per capita bonded debt, and the ever-changing conceptions of school 
systems, it would seem wise for the school department to pay by 
annual tax for as much building as can reasonably be done. A tax 
of li mills would care for the present increase in population. Some 
permanent-type buildings might be paid for by bonding. 

CHAlrTER XIII 

THE SCHOOL PLANT. 
The School House Site. 

The site should be a safe distance from noisy factories, lumber 
mills, steam or electric car lines, streets upon which heavy traffic is 
carried or any agency that causes noise, dust, smoke or danger. 
Terwillic;er and Peninsula are examples of Portland school sites 
badly ^aosen. 

1 he usual excuse for locating sites too near such disturbances 
is ( L) that the lot was the only available site; or (2) the building 
mu^t be in the neighborhood where the children live. Generally a 
proper site can be secured by condemnation. The second objection 
!.> rarely valid, because children are better off if they have to walk 
a half mile to school. 

Orientation of School Bviildings. 

A school building in this latitude should be planned so that as 
many rooms as possible should have the east or west light. Class 
rooms with north light should be avoided, for two reasons: lack of 
sunshine and the dangers due to insufficient light. A south expo- 
sure furnishes a very strong light, which cannot be regulated. Class 
rooms with east exposure are generally better for upper grades, 
with west exposure for primaries. 

Windows. 

Every class room should get light from but one side, either from 
the east or the west. The window surface should approximate one- 
fifth of the floor surface. The center of the window area should be 
to the rear of the center of the room in order to properly distribute 
light on the desks. Ribbed and frosted glass should be avoided. A 
transom over an inside door is but a waste of money. 



Size of Class Rooms. 

The maximum size of a class room is recommended to be 24x 
30xl2i. Beyond this size the room cannot be properly lighted, rec- 
itations cannot be successfully conducted, the room can be over- 
crowded, and an unnecessary expense is caused in construction, fuel, 
ventilating and cleaning. Many of the Portland class rooms are too 
large, especially in the height of ceilings, which sometimes reach 
16 feet. 

Floors. 

The Board should obtain permission from the underwriters to 
use a good floor dressing on the wooden floors. If put on properly 
it will be so absorbed that it will not soil women's skirts. If there 
is any increased danger from fire because of the oil, the excellent 
fire drills would make it infinitesimal. 

School Desks. 

Because of conditions in Portland, it is recommended that many 
more adjustable desks be installed and that they be set by some one 
who knows how and where to place them. 

Blackboards. 

Slate blackboards are recommended. Relief from chalk dust 
should be obtained by wire mesh over troughs. 

Stair Banisters. 

Stair banisters should be solid because of sanitary and moral 
reasons. 

Assembly Rooms. 

The assembly room should be on the first floor because it is 
safer and more usable there. Its proper use is for school exercises 
and neighborhood gatherings and not for a gymnasium. There should 
be fixed seats, a large stage and ample ventilation. 

Floating Ceilings. 

Acoustic properties are bad in some of the concrete fireproof 
buildings, due largely to suspended ceilings and in part perhaps to 
the walls. 

Open-Air Schools. 

Open-air schools are no longer an experiment. They are good 
for the well children as well as the sick. Portland's climate offers 
unusually good opportunities for the establishment and maintenance 
of these schools. Each large building should have at least one open- 
air room. An east or a west room should be chosen. One-sash win- 
dows hinged at the top should be provided. 

Temperature of School Rooms. 
The class rooms visited during two weeks were almost invaria- 
bly too high in temperature, running from 70 to 75 degrees. The 

22 



maximum temperature of a school room in Portland, with its humid 
climate, should perhaps not exceed 67 degrees when fires are used. 
In England, with a similar climate, 65 degrees is recommended as 
the maximum. All buildings should be supplied with thermostats 
set at 65 degrees as a minimum and kept sufficiently sensitive as to 
never allow a higher temperature than 67 degrees. 

Hot-Air Furnace. 
The hot-air furnace is well adapted to Portland's climate. It 
must be kept in good repair and should be accompanied by a plenum- 
fan system of ventilation. 

Ventilation. 

It is more difficult to satisfactorily ventilate a closed room in a 
mild climate than in a cold. Portland's school buildings need larger 
fans, larger ducts, larger inlets and exits. The air should be taken 
from the south or east side of the building at the level of the 
second floor. No opportunity should be allowed for air from base- 
ment or storerooms to mix with it. Mixing dampers or a temper- 
ing furnace should prevent the air from being carried to the rooms 
hot or cold. The mouth of the inlet duct should be so shaped that 
the air will be distributed over the room evenly and not create 
drafts. Wire screens should be left off of the inlet and outlet ducts 
for sanitary reasons. About 2,000 cubic feet of air per hour for each 
pupil should be provided. In the halls, registers under benches will 
supply the heat and at the same time a sanitary place for warming 
feet and drying clothes. 

Toilet Accommodations. 

Toilet accommodations are at present inadequate and unsanitary. 

Baths. 

They are not provided aside from the high schools. It is rec- 
ommended that such provision be made in each school and that 
opportunity and time be given for bathing once each week. 

Vacuum Cleaners. 

These should be installed as rapidly as possible. The best place 
for the suction pipe is in the middle of one end of the class room. 
Only "dustless" dust cloths should be used. 

Drinking Fountains. 
These are being installed and should be properly regulated. 

Janitor Service. 

It is recommended that the Superintendent of Properties conduct 
a school for proper instruction of janitors in the modern systems of 
heating, ventilation, sweeping, disinfection, care of building, etc. The 
janitor, next to the principal, is the most important officer of the 
school. 

23 



Miscellaneous. 

Children should be permitted to play on parks or streets where 
playgrounds are lacking. 

An open-air theater should be built in the ravine at the Creston 
School. 

Lownsdale and Couch buildings are unfit for school use. 

A small committee of principals and teachers might be appointed 
to advise with the Superintendent and architect in the plans for new 
buildings. 

CHAPTER XIV 

Medical Inspection; Hygiene Teaching; Physical Training; Special 
Schools for Defectives. 

There are two main types of school medical service in the United 
States: 

(1) Medical inspection carried on chiefly for the detection and 
control of transmissible diseases, at an average cost of about 13 
cents per year for each child. All school inspection started with 
this form. 

(2) Health supervision in a broad sense. The annual cost of 
such a system is about 50 cents per pupil, but measured by results 
it is by far the cheapest form of school medical service. 

The school medical service in Portland belongs to the first type. 
It is carried on by the Board of Health. The annual expense is a 
little over 10 cents per child. The service rendered is worth many 
times this. The work should be extended, however, as suggested 
in (2) above. The following recommendations show how this should 
be done: 

1. That the medical supervision be taken over by the Board of 
Education. 

2. That its scope be enlarged to include inspection for many 
kinds of defects which are now seldom reported. 

3. That the work be placed under the supervision of a well-paid, 
full-time physician who has had wide experience in this line of health 
service and who appreciates the educational aspects of the problem. 

4. That besides the chief director, two full-time and two half- 
time physicians be employed (one of the full-time physicians to be 
a woman and one of the half-time physicians to be an eye, ear, nose 
and throat specialist), and one full-time dentist. 

5. That at least seven additional full-time nurses be employed 
instead of one, so that adequate follow-up service could be organized 
and vigorously prosecuted. 

6. That an efficient system of records and reports be instituted. 

7. That annual vision and hearing tests be made by the teachers, 
under the direction of the chief medical director. 

8. That greater emphasis be placed upon preventive work and 

24 



upon the treatment of so-called "minor" defects which are likely to 
lead to future conditions of ill health. 

9. That candidates for teaching positions be required to pass a 
physical examination, conducted by the school medical department, 
and that attention be given to the health of teachers in service. 

10. That the teaching of hygiene be made less academic, and 
that it be directed especially toward the cultivation of hygienic habits 
of living. 

11. That playgrounds be increased in number and size as rapidly 
as finances will permit, and that the playground instruction be or- 
ganized and combined with the department of physical training. 

12. That a few open-air schools be established at once, and that 
their number be increased rapidly until they can accommodate all 
of the anaemic, debilitated children in the schools (or at least 5 per 
cent of the enrollment). 

13. That plans be made for the organization, in the near future, 
of a more adequate system of special classes for the deaf (to include 
a number of children whose hearing is not quite destroyed but who 
cannot profit from ordinary instruction), the blind, the crippled (cer- 
tain classes of cripples only), stutterers, etc. 

14. That warm lunches be served in several schools, where a 
fairly large proportion of the children are under-nourished. 

15. That a psychologist be employed to assist in the study of 
mentally peculiar and defective children, with a view to the segrega 
tion of certain types of cases in special schools. The chief problem 
here is the "borderline" child, 

16. That attention be given to the more important aspects of 
the hygiene of instruction, including the choice of hygienic text- 
books, the regulation of home study, the arrangement of the daily 
program, the number of recesses and kindred matters. 

CHAPTER XV 

Census and Attendance. 

The annual school census now taken in Portland is regulated 
directly by the statutes of the state. The enumeration blank con- 
tains the following items: 

1. Name of parent and guardian. 

2. Address. 

3. Names of children classified as to sex and according to 
three age groups: (a) 4 to 5; (b) 6, 7 and over 15 and under 20; 
(c) over 8 and under 15. 

Blind and deaf children are enumerated separately and classified 
as above. 

The blank also calls for the number of legal voters and informa- 
tion concerning private schools. 

The census for each sub-district is taken by persons designated 
by the school clerk, usually principals or teachers. 

25 



The returns are made in triplicate, one copy being filed with the 
County Superintendent, one with the clerk and one with the principal. 
This last should be used as a check upon the school enrollment. 

The cost of the census is about 5 cents per capita, which seems 
reasonable. 

The "census form" is used by the city to supplement and correct 
the annual census and is a first step in making a permanent and 
continuous census. 

In addition there should be kept a card list of all children of 
the city so complete that the school officials could know at all times 
the whereabouts of each one. The tabulated returns of the census 
should show the number of boys and girls for each year group. 

The Compulsory Education Law and the Child Labor Law, 
which are classed among the best in the country, require attendance 
at school of all children between the ages of nine and fifteen, years, 
and of children between fifteen and sixteen who are not legally 
employed in some useful work. The school census is the common 
ground for the enforcement of these laws. 

In Portland the one truant officer enforces the compulsory law, 
and looks after all matters of non-attendance, stealing, tobacco-using, 
immorality, vandalism, etc., among the school children. This task 
is beyond the capacity of a single officer. 

The records are as complete as could be expected, since he has 
no clerical help. 

A report is submitted to the Board each month and at the end 
of each year. The latter should be included in the annual school 
report. 

So far the work of this truant officer has of ne^^essity been 
mainly that of a police function. 

The larger aspect of the work can be treated only by a special 
department under the management of a superintendent of attendance 
and at least five attendance officers. 

The function of this department would be (1) the discovery 
and treating of causes that underlie truancy, irregularity in attend- 
ance, incorrigibility, and early withdrawal from school; and (2) the 
taking and care of the school census records. 

The following figures will show the cost per thousand enroll- 
ment of the compulsory and truancy work compared with several 
other cities: Portland, $45; Denver, $207; Spokane, $76; Oakland, 
$141; Kansas City, Mo., $172; Minneapolis, $106. 



36 



CHAPTER XVI - 

RECORDS AND REPORTS. 
Record of Board Proceedings. 
These should be indexed and cross-referenced to serve as a 
reliable source of information relative to previous actions of the 
Board. 

The Annual Report. 

The annual report has become merely a mechanical record of 
only certain features of the formal operation of the school system. 
The annual report of the public school system should be in such 
form and content as to serve for a ready means for community pub- 
licity as to the real progress and performances of the schools, and 
as an effective instrument for stimulating the citizens of the school 
district to action for meeting the demonstrated needs of the schools. 
It should be the chief means of communication between the people 
and their authorized officials as to the conduct of public school 
affairs. The report should stand not only as permanent evidence of 
the honesty of that conduct, but as a mark of the capacity of the 
Board and its officers to serve as educational leaders in the com- 
munity. 

Fundamental Educational Records Needed. 

It is recommended that a division of statistics and educational 
investigation be established in connection with the office of the 
Superintendent of Schools, under a director, whose chief function 
will be to gather, in proper form, all the necessary data concerning 
the operation of the school system that will enable the administra- 
tive and supervisory staff to -valuate the practices and methods of 
the schools, and to give to the people of the community a reasonable 
basis for an intelligent appreciation of the true worth of the results 
being obtained in and through the schools. 

The following are recommended as the two most important 
records: 

An individual, cumulative card, providing for the record of the 
school career of every child, showing name, place and date of birth, 
name and occupation of parent or guardian, residence, date of ad- 
mission to school, length of attendance and date of promotion from 
each grade or class, condition of health, character of conduct and 
quality of accomplishment in each grade and class. 

(This is the most fundamental of all the school records. From 
it all the collective statistical exhibits are developed.) 

An individual, cumulative card, providing for the record of the 
teaching career of every teacher on the staff, showing name, age, 
residence, education and training, teaching assignments and teach- 
ing success, as determined by supervisory and inspectorial officers. 

27 



CHAPTER XVII 

Costs of the System of Education. 

This chapter considers two things: (1) What is the relative 
rank of the district now in the matter of school expenditures? 
(2) Can the district reasonably afford to spend more money on its 
schools than it now does? 

(1) Relative rank in school expenditures: 

The expenditure per capita of the total population of Portland 
is $4.29, This places Portland as nineteenth in the list of the 37 
cities previously referred to in this report. Five other cities are 
here shown: Denver, $5.49, third in rank; Spokane, $5.46, fourth in 
rank; Seattle, $5.29, seventh in rank; Oakland, $4.03, twenty-fifth in 
rank; Los Angeles, $3.77, twenty-ninth in rank. But Portland has a 
small number of children. For the population over 15 years of age 
the expenditure per capita is $5.28, or twenty-sixth in this list. And 
for each adult male (21 years or over) the cost is thirty-first in the 
list. 

The cost per pupil in the elementary schools is $41.95. In Seat- 
tle it is $43.92; in Los Angeles, $50.38. 

In the high schools the cost per pupil is $76.42, with 12^ of total 
attendance in high school. In Seattle it is $101.14, with 16;^ in high 
school; in Los Angeles, $120.07, with 15.15^. 

(2) Portland can and should spend about $50 per pupil in ■-'.e- 
mentary work, about $70 in the intermediate, and $90 to $ioo for 
high school. 

(In the high schools teachers are not paid high enough maximum 
to retain the best, and they are required to teach too many periods 
per day.) 

This is shown by the rank of Portland in the real wealth of the 
37 cities — fifth place — and its rank in the rate of tax based on real 
wealth — thirty-third place. About one mill to the present rate of 
tax would provide the increase suggested. Portland could even double 
its expenses for yearly maintenance and still pay less than aiinost 
every Eastern city. 

To most readers of the Survey the most important subject under 
discussion has been "The Proper Relationships in the Organization of 
the Public School System." The diagram immediately following is a 
clear statement of the recommendations made upon this subject. 



28 




X 



Ph 



■^ 



APPENDIX A. 

Changes made in the Portland Schools since the beginning of 
the school year September, 1913: 

1. Plan adopted of dismissing pupils in poor health from after- 
noon attendance. 

2. The system of fines has been abolished. 

3. Open-air room in Irvington school. (An experiment.) 

4. Warm lunches served to pupils in the following schools: 
Arleta, Montavilla, Llewellyn, and Peninsula. 

5. For the purpose of holding group teachers' meetings the 
schools of the city have been divided into sixteen groups. The 
teachers of each group, 50 to 75 in number, meet once each month 
to discuss class room work. 

6. Freedom in each school, placing responsibility upon the prin- 
cipal. 

7. A parent-teacher organization in each elementary school build- 
ing, 52 in all. At the close of last year there were 20 organizations. 

8. Extension of courses in evening schools in pursuance of act 
of Legislature February 25, 1913. Attendance increased from 1577 
last year to 3709 this year, an increase of 135 per cent. 

9. German taught in the following elementary schools: Irving- 
ton and Ainsworth. 

10. Ungraded rooms in the following schools: Arleta, Clinton 
Kelly, Davis, Failing, Holladay, Ladd, Montavilla, Woodlawn. 

11. A course of study in domestic science for the elementary 
grades is being prepared, and will be introduced as equipment and 
teachers are provided in the different buildings. 

12. Community houses maintained for training the girls of the 
grammar grades in home-making, cooking, sewing, laundry work, 
etc., in the following schools: Vernon, Albina Homestead. 

13. Savings banks organized in the following schools: Woodlawn, 
Albina Homestead. 

14. The plan inaugurated of rotating teachers so that pupils may 
retain the same teacher for three years. 

These changes, many of which had been contemplated for some 
time, have been made under the direction of Prof. L. R. Alderman, 
Superintendent of Portland Public Schools, with the approval of the 
School Board. It would be well for those groups studying this Digest 
to obtain further information on this subject from Mr. Alderman. 



,10 



APPENDIX B. 

Concerning the Superintendent of Properties. 

The superintendent of properties is not subordinate to the school 
clerk but is responsible directly to the Board. 

Concerning Teachers and City Superintendent, 

The Board is compelled by law to enter into contracts with teach- 
ers and to fix their salaries. The application required of teachers 
is made part of the contract. 

In practice the Board in making appointments accepts as a rule 
the nominations of the Superintendent. 

The severest criticisms of the Board heretofore were provoked 
on account of the unlimited control of school affairs given, over to 
the Superintendent's office. 

Concerning Pensions. 

The Board has not the slightest authority to enlarge the present 
pension system. This can be done only by legislative authority. 

Concerning Drawings, Etc. 

In Chapter X there are many errors of fact concerning the draw- 
ing and other art work in the public schools. A protest has been 
made by the very efficient supervisor of this branch of instruction, 
and to those who intend to make a study of this Survey we recom- 
mend consultation with the teacher in charge of drawing and art 
work. It is unfortunately impossible to do more than draw attention 
to the following prominent errors on this subject: 

Concerning the course in drawing we quote from the Survey: 
"Explicit directions are given in detail for each week's work." 

The course of study does not give directions in detail for each 
week's work. The work is planned, giving one or more general topics 
for the month. 

"The work in the high schools lacks support, both in equipment 
and teachers." 

The work in materials in our high schools includes the applica- 
tion of designs to textiles, leather, bookbinding, metal and jewelry. 

The problems are finished complete under supervision. 

Concerning Clay Work. 

"The work in clay overemphasizes modeling to the neglect of 
pottery," 

There is no clay used in our high school work. 

Concerning Weaving and Metal Work. 

"Weaving and metal work should be introduced." 
Weaving and metal work have been taught for a number of years 
and have a permanent place in the course of study. 

31 



LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 




022 165 937 5 



NEED OF A HEW I.AW FOR POBTI.ANI> FTTBl^IC 
SCKOOI.S. 

The closing pages of tlie Survey contain "A suggest d 
law for tlie management of the Portland School Dis- 
trict." Tlie salient points in this suggested law are: 

(1) Districts having more than 20,000 children shall 
be called Metropolitan Districts. 

(2) Boards of Education shall consist of five mem- 
bers, one being elected each year for a term of five 
years. 

(3) A President of the Board shall be elected by hi« 
fellow members, and he shall appoint all standing and 
special committees. 

(4) The regular standing committees of the Board 
shall be: 

(a) Financial affairs. 

(b) Buildings and sites. 

(c) Educational affairs. 
' (d) Legal affairs. 

(5) Boards shall elect the following executive offi- 
cers: 

(a) Superintendent of Schools. 

(b) A Business Manager. 

(c) A Superintendent of properties. 

(d) A Superintendent of school attendance. 

(6) The duties of each officer and the policies to he 
pursued are to be determined by the Boird which is 
advised to confer large powers and responsibilities on 
the executive officers and demand successful results. 

(7) A Budget shall be presented annually by the 
Board under 

(a) Outlays Fund. 

(b) Maintenance Fund. 

(8) Indeterminate contracts for teachers proved to be 
deserving' and efficient, are recommended. 

(9) Boards shall have power to estabMsh and main- 
tain any kind of school tiiat the needs of the district 
demand, as well as to adopt suitable text books and 
courses of study. 

(10) Boards shall provide for a detailed census to 
establish records of the educational needs and standing 
of the district. 



Beyond a doubt there is need for a new school law 
for Portland Public Schools, and therefore the Oregon 
Civic I^eagfue has apijointed from itb membership the 
following representative cimmittee to frame sucli a law 
as is best suited for present day conditions: 

MR. WALTER EVANS, Chairman, representing Parent 
Teachers' Associations. 

MR. M. G. MUNLY, Portland School Board. 

MR. L. R. ALDERMAN, Superintendent of City Schools. 

MR. H. JENKINS, Principal Jefferson High School. 

MISS DeGRAFF, President Grade Teachers' Associa- 
tion. 

MR. H. A. DARNALL, State Grange. 

As soon as the plans of this committee have been 
formulated, their deliberations will be open to the public 
and eventually the law will be published and distributed 
for discussion, criticism and suggestions. 



